- Happy 3rd Birthday Hayden! -

Three Things we Love about our HAYDEN

(a.k.a Haydee Love):

(If you ask him his name right now, he says, "Haydee Wuv." He doesn't like Hayden Jace for now!)

1.) His sweet, tender spirit . He is truly a peacemaker in our home, & he still lets us cuddle him most of the time. (Mom's trying hard not to let the brothers ruin this for her.)

2.) His enthusiasm for helping with any job we're doing. He is my best unloader of the dishwasher. One of his favorite gifts was a "Handy Manny" tool set -- he loves to help daddy too. He especially loves to help his brothers and join in on their backyard ballgames. He also loves to take care of Champ, the dog.

3.) His independence. He can do everything all by himself! He dresses himself and changes outfits often. This independence earned him stiches earlier this year when he thought he could get out of Grandm's car all by himself.

Three of Hayden's favorite things at age three:

1) His special soft and silky blankets

2) Riding his big bike (blue bike -- he loves blue)

3) Malt flavored Ovaltine

We celebrated Hayden's 3rd birthday by going to Kaysville for the day to watch his big brothers play baseball, surprise, surprise! He didn't seem to mind, however. He's grown up at ballgames. His brothers gave him some real baseball pants, so he was dressed like a player too. We brought birthday cupcakes to share with the team and all of the other little siblings at the ball park. After the games were over, we sat Hayden up on the bucket of balls & sang to him. He got embarrassed, of course, but I know it made him feel special. Most of Deron's family lives down that way, so several of them were there to share the day with us. We then raced home so that Hayden could go to the Aggie football game with his dad, Grandpa, & Jeron.

Hayden wasn't sure he wanted a birthday. He kept telling me that he didn't want a birthday, he just wanted a big gun to shoot the birdies (lovely, huh)! After opening two presents and crying because they weren't a big gun, we decided we better give him his big gun so that he might show some enthusiasm for his other gifts and not hurt people's feelings.

I was determined to take him to Kiddie Kandids for a birthday picture. As usual, he had other plans. It is so hard to catch a good picture of him right now. (Notice the picture where he's hiding under the table at his party.) He runs from the camera, & if he decides to stand in for a quick shot, he won't look at you. I'm learning to be really sneaky, but after 1 1/2 hours at Kiddie Kandids, I gave up. The poor photographer was only able to push her button one time, because he wouldn't pose for her at all. You'll notice this non smiling picture on his cake! We will remember his third birthday as the one where we never got a great photo!

Hayden also got to celebrate on Sunday at his great-grandparents' house with my side of the family. Birthday dinners at Grandma's have been a long standing tradition in my family. I'm so glad that our kids get to have these memories too.

WE LOVE YOU, HAYDEN!